Exhibitions and Events

The Kansas City Textile Studio introduces the work of Lexie Abra Johnson. This exhibition presents fiber-based works that place the viewer within the context of the artist’s domestic understanding. By referencing traditional textiles, Johnson both embraces and questions the roles we play within our own homes and families. The artist’s use of discarded denim and live plants as predominant materials throughout the space brings up themes of both sustainability and fertility. By highlighting the deterioration of these utilitarian materials, parallels are drawn to the ideas of tradition and labor. As the artist looks backward and investigates her family’s tradition of craft, she is able to gain more perspective on the cycle of her own life.

Johnson will be interacting with the exhibition guests as she prepares food for them throughout the night. The viewers will be invited to work with her to make a common childhood comfort food, grilled cheese sandwiches. This cooperation is seen by the artist as a way to nurture her guests, and that interaction will then exist as a part of the overall work itself. This creation of a venue for community interaction is a reoccurring theme within Johnson’s work.

Lexie Abra Johnson is an interdisciplinary artist based in Kansas City, MO and is a 2015 BFA candidate at the Kansas City Art Institute. Her interactive installations and art events explore ideas of domestic relationships, fertility, agricultural sustainability, and tradition. She uses fiber processes such as embroidery, printmaking, and quilting, along with photography, sculpture, performance, and relational aesthetics in her practice.